Extra Time
by clandestinedly
Summary: Kate manages to get Lily and the twins to bed early for once. This calls for a celebratory glass of wine with Rick... maybe. Fluffy one-shot.


"All three are down for the count," Kate announces with an exhale of her breath as she walks into the living room. It doesn't take long for the twins to fall asleep after she has tucked them into bed, but Lily has proven to be a rebel recently, and Rick and Kate have both learned to expect four or five reappearances of their daughter a night, at least.

"I feel like I should be pouring you a celebratory champagne rather than a glass of wine," Rick smirks as he glances at the clock on the wall before he turns to his wife. "I'm sure that's gotta be a record time, babe," he smiles as he places the bottle of merlot onto the counter before he carries the long-stemmed glasses over to the sofa, sitting down besides Kate.

"Your mom must have worn them out at the park after school," she muses as she threads her fingers through her long hair. The twins were still too young to be in school, but they had decided to put the twins into pre-school to try and get them into a routine; but Lily is in elementary school and Martha had collected the trio of Castle children because they had finished for the summer and she wanted to celebrate with her grandchildren. She lifts her head with a smirk playing on the corner of her lips as she leans across and takes a glass from her husband, before she raises it to her mouth and she takes a slow sip of the red wine. "You know, we could always make good use of the extra time we seem to have acquired," She says, scooting closer to him.

Rick almost chokes on his mouthful of wine at his wife's playful suggestion, but quickly swallows the deep merlot as he raises his eyebrows playfully. "Why, Beckett. You haven't even had a full glass of wine yet," he teases as he pulls her closer and leans forward to press his lips against hers. When both are lost in their kiss, and their wine glasses are set on the coffee table – about to be long forgotten, a rumble of thunder crashes through the night sky outside of their apartment building.

"You always _did_ think you could make the world move – you didn't have to prove it to me by organising a strategically planned storm," Kate smirks as she pushes him back so he is leaning against the sofa. Just as she straddles his lap a second rumble of thunder is followed quickly by a flash of lightening, and then… there's a slight buzzing around the loft just before the power cuts and the loft is left in darkness.

There's approximately ten seconds of silence before Lily comes bounding down the stairs, two at a time, scared because of the storm that's brewing overhead. She shrieks as she trips down the bottom couple of stairs and she runs towards where she knows the sofa is, which has Kate and Rick separating quickly before any questions could be asked.

" _Moooooommy_ ," Lily whines as she clambers along the sofa towards Kate, who wraps her arm around Lily's shoulders while sympathetically patting Rick's knee. It doesn't matter how old Lily thinks she is (and even Kate is sure she's seven going on seventeen sometimes), whenever there's a storm, Lily wants nothing more than cuddles with her mommy – something Kate will never get tired of.

"It's okay, Lil. It's just a power cut honey. You're okay," Kate explains to their young daughter, and it isn't long until Kate and Rick can distinguish the sounds of their twins coming down the stairs between the noises of the thunder and lightning. Kate continues to rub Lily's arm soothingly as she presses a kiss to the top of her brunette hair while Jake and Reece manage to reach the bottom of the stairs.

" _Daaaaaaaaaaaddy,"_ The twins call out simultaneously because neither can see and they're not too happy navigating the course of the living room in the dark. The young boys are both in tears because they're frightened, but once Rick comes to their rescue and he lifts them into his arms, they both lean their heads against his shoulders and their tears reduce to sniffs as Rick sits down next to his wife and the three of them settle in for a night on the sofa, watching the storm play out through the windows of their New York loft.

"I seem to remember you saying we had extra time?" Rick whispers to Kate, and even though he can't really see her, he can almost hear the sound of her rolling her eyes. "You realise you jinxed it, right?"

"Well," Kate tells Rick with a huff of laughter. "I would have said time in, but last time we had a time in resulted in the twins."

Rick's face falls in the darkness and he nods his head as he cuddles his young boys. "You always did make a good point."


End file.
